TSX Foresees Slight Gains Wednesday

Eco, Altus in Vogue

Stock futures for Canada's main index edged higher on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index leaped 149.9 points to end Tuesday at 16,503.35

The Canadian dollar inched up 0.01 cents to 74.76 cents U.S. early Wednesday

June futures gained 0.1% Wednesday.

Canada on Tuesday approved as expected a hotly contested proposal to expand the western Canadian crude oil pipeline it bought last year, providing hope for a depressed energy industry but angering environmental groups.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will seek to further mend fences when he meets Donald Trump in Washington this week, a year after the U.S. president stormed out of a G7 meeting calling Trudeau "very dishonest and weak."

Eco Atlantic said it was not aware of any corruption probe in Guyana that would affect an offshore concession it has with partners Total and Tullow Oil.

CIBC raised the price target on Altus Group to $26.00 from $23.00

Canaccord Genuity cut the price target on Aphria Inc. to $16.00 from $18.00

RBC cut the rating on Cobalt 27 Capital to sector perform from outperform

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.4% on a year-over-year basis in May, following a 2.0% increase in April.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.3% in May.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange sank 0.15 points Tuesday to 584.47

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday morning as investors waited for the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on monetary policy.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15 points, or 0.1%, to 26,519.

Futures for the S&P 500 eked up 0.5 points at 2,926.75.

NASDAQ futures improved 7.25 points, or 0.1%, to 7,680.75

Oracle and Winnebago Industries are among the companies declaring earnings Wednesday

Expectations of lower rates helped the market rebound this month after a torrid performance in May. The S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ were all up at least 6% in June entering Wednesday’s session.

The Fed’s decision is scheduled to be announced this afternoon at 2 p.m. ET. The central bank is not expected to make any changes in terms of monetary policy, but investors will look for clues on whether the Fed will cut rates later this year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a news conference after the announcement.